rfullerton

Should I save a few bob by purchasing an ex-rental fleet car or will it cost more in the long run?

I've finally accepted that the S2000 can't be the only car we run and that we'll need to get something with a bit more room for ferrying around family & guests/purchases from Screwfix/rubbish to the tip.

A local garage, MJA, who have a bunch of garages in s/w London offer good deals on nearly new Focus's and the like. The sales rep tells me they're from Apex rental who they also own.

I'm guessing the cons are:
* It could have been treated like crap. I know I've not bothered about being gentle with a hire car regardless of the mileage. My wife, however, reminds me that not everyone drives like I do!

Versus the pros of:
* Regularly washed, albeit to a low standard
* Much cheaper than from Ford given the age

What do you think? And would an AA check-up be worth anything?

Thanks

rfullerton

AlyWW

My wife's Focus started life as a hire car - we bought it at 10 months old with 14K on the clock from a Ford dealer. That was 6 years ago, it now has 70k on and has never caused us any trouble. Not saying it would be the same for every ex-hire car though. I remember somebody telling me that the way a car responds to high milleage will be to a certain extent determined by the way it is run in. Not sure if I agree with that or not?

I spend half my life in hire cars from work - I've had the same one for the last 2.5 weeks and clocked up 2K miles in it - all at a steady xxmph on the motorway. Having said that I've also seen other people rag the bo***cks of them.

Gaspode

What's your budget?
What size of car?

Fieldl

For hire cars they do. I will quite happily admit regardless of car type, I drive hire cars quite literally like I stole them.

That's one reason I bought the Punto it was quite fun. Cars I hate get it worse The Renault Megane that went back a steaming wreck for example, likewise the Citroen C5. Both abused like a catholic schoolboy....

I'd give hire cars a swerve and find another.

gaddafi

how much cheaper are they?

I suspect not that much

so it will come down to how much pf a risk you want to take in order to save not a lot

Bibbs

The fastest car in the world, is a hire car.

It's what you use to perfect your clutchless/full throttle gear changes.

What sor tof reduction are you getting? How do they compare to a private sale?

Shipley

I'm not sure either of them are particularly exciting......


Its a buyers market at the moment and if you have cash - you'll find an excellent deal in a lot of places.

I don't know of anyone (myself included) who hasn't ragged the bejaysus out of a hire car.

eSeM

I can remember I once broke the clutch cable on my company car so I spent the next few days learning to change gears, without using the clutch on a rental.

Dracoro

I think a hire car would be just about the worst used buy.

Not convinced they maintain them to any great standard, certainly all the niggly little things won't have been sorted.

Any bumps will be fixed very cheaply.

A high number of drivers so high likelyhood of poor drivers slipping clutch and so forth.

A certain number of drivers who will abuse the hell out of them.

What used car could be worse?

They would have to give a MASSIVE saving to tempt, half price or forget it.

gaddafi

quite right

they never are though

exactly the same as insurance write-offs - bought cheap and sold expensive